Page 43 of Alaskan Blackout
Relief might have knocked her over if hope hadn’t been there to bolster her back up. The promise of a future together gleamed brighter than the ghostly green that shimmered above their heads while she savored the feel of his strong arms around her. Anchoring her.
Accepting her.
“Just like that?” she asked, a mixture of wonder and love for this man making her voice crack.
His forehead tipped to hers, his breath a warm stirring of air near her nose.
“Of course. You think I don’t understand how surprise and confusion might make someone say something they didn’t mean?” He shook his head, a movement she felt more than saw with their faces pressed so close together. “I was so stunned by the baby news, I said all the wrong things too. Things I didn’t mean. Because I want more than just a marriage of convenience for our child. One day, whenever you’re ready, I hope you’ll build a real life with me, based on love.”
She edged back, needing to see into his eyes to measure these words that seemed too impossibly good to be true.
“Me? An Alaskan bartender with the most sordid internet fame imaginable?” As she said it aloud, the idea seemed all the more out of reach. “I love you, Quinton, but you’re a Kingsley. Famous in your own right for your tech company. I would never fit into that life.”
“There is nothing remotely sordid about you, McKenna.” Quinton’s brown gaze never wavered. “I want to be with you, wherever you are. I don’t care if that’s in Unalaska or Silicon Valley or Coldfoot.” He gestured to the cabin in front of them in this remote town of about thirty residents. “Hell, I’d even go back to Montana if that’s what you wanted. Nothing matters to me as much as being together.”
The possibilities of their future rolled out in front of her eyes, tantalizing her with new opportunities. And the offer to relocate for her touched McKenna’s heart more than she could have dared imagine, healing a corner of her soul that still ached from a childhood of abandonment.
“I do love it up here,” she admitted slowly, realizing that Quinton meant every word he said. That he’d given his heart to her and would go anywhere she chose. The thought humbled her. “And I would like it if our child could spend at least some time in Alaska just to see this world that helped heal me.”
A sigh of relief shuddered through him so tangibly she felt it. “I would say that it’s been healing for me too, but I have the feeling that it was meeting you that changed everything.” He stroked his thumb over her cheek, sending a tingle of awareness through her. “Changed me.”
“Maybe part of the year in California,” she suggested, her gaze dipping to his lips. She wanted a kiss. Needed it. “And part of the year here.”
“We don’t have to decide tonight.” Hauling her onto his lap, he wrapped her closer to him before raining kisses along her jaw, ending at the corner of her mouth. “We could think about it in the morning, after we’ve settled more important questions.”
He hovered just above her lips and her eyelashes fluttered in anticipation of his kiss.
“Such as?” She clutched the lapels of his jacket, not even noticing the spectacular display overhead now that Quinton was this close to her.
Loving her.
He licked along her lower lip before dragging it between his teeth. When he let go of it, she wanted to weep with frustration.
“Such as how many times are you going to scream my name tonight once I get you inside that cabin?” His voice was so rough her thighs shifted restlessly in anticipation.
“I’m not sure, Cowboy, but let’s go find out.”
He swooped her up and off the picnic table before charging across the frozen tundra toward the tiny log structure. McKenna held on tight, ready for their forever to begin.
Keep reading for an excerpt fromThe Wrong Rancherby J. Margot Critch.
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The Wrong Rancher
by J. Margot Critch
One
Piper sat back in the buttery-smooth leather seat and sipped from her champagne flute. She looked out the small round window of the private plane that had been sent to Chicago to take her to the small Texas ranch town of Applewood. “Ms. Gallagher,” the flight attendant said, collecting Piper’s now-empty glass from the table next to her. “We’ll be beginning our descent now. Touchdown on the Applewood airstrip in just ten minutes.”
“Thank you. For everything.” Piper had never experienced such luxury before in her life. In just forty-eight hours, her normally modest life had done a full one-eighty. If her trip to Applewood worked out favorably, this was something she could get used to, but she wasn’t going to count her chickens too early on that one.